Left politics with history in the frame.
Living in the USA treats the week’s political news as evidence of deeper institutional conflict. Its conversations move from Trump-era headlines into organizing, legal power, protest, history, and the practical work of democratic resistance.
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Living in the USA is a left political interview program organized around the question of what current events mean for democratic power. The format is steady. John Wiener opens from the week’s concrete political crisis, then brings in guests who can place it inside law, history, organizing, media, or movement strategy. The show returns often to Trump, but it is not just a Trump show. It treats his wars, executive orders, campus attacks, and voting threats as part of a broader contest over institutions and public resistance. Harold Meyerson’s recurring political updates give the program a durable backbone, moving from polling and speeches to economic pressure, international conflict, and the condition of the right. Other segments widen the field. Deepak Bhargava discusses Minnesota’s resistance to ICE as a model for pro-democracy organizing. Rebecca Solnit argues for a longer view of change. Amy Littlefield explains abortion access after Dobbs. David Cole analyzes whether emergency claims can override election law. John Nichols connects protest, Congress, and the midterms. The show also makes room for culture and history, including Beverly Gage on a road trip through U.S. history, Howard Bryant on Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson, and Natan Last on crossword puzzle politics. Its politics are clear, but its best moments are analytical rather than slogan-driven. It is interested in how people build capacity before a crisis, how courts may or may not restrain power, and how public action becomes more than a single day of protest. The pace is measured, with long questions and patient answers. It can be sharp. It rarely feels hurried. Living in the USA suits listeners who want left commentary that keeps one eye on the headline and the other on the structure beneath it.
Made for: For politically literate listeners who want left analysis of U.S. news, protest movements, courts, war powers, voting rights, and public institutions. It fits people who prefer sustained interviews over quick pundit exchanges.
What sets it apart: The show links weekly political developments to longer histories of organizing, law, and institutional power. Its recurring news updates and expert interviews make protest, policy, and historical memory feel connected rather than separate.
Talking about politics, thinking about the Left. Hosted by Jon Wiener, co-author of "Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties," contributing editor at The Nation, and broadcast live at KPFK 90.7FM in LA Thursdays at 4.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
John Wiener connects left political analysis with legal detail, historical perspective, and close attention to how organized resistance takes shape.
John Wiener turns each edition of Living in the USA into a sequence of focused interviews, setting out the political stakes before asking guests to explain how power works in practice.
Crossword politics sits beside war powers; John Wiener has room for your curiosity about both.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A wide-ranging hour on political spectacle, long-view resistance, and local solidarity confronting ICE.
Living in the USA moves through political spectacle, global right-wing pressure, long-view resistance, and immigrant defense in Minnesota. Harold Meyerson takes up Trump's online self-presentation as Jesus, his claim of ownership over the Strait of Hormuz blockade, and Hungarian…
A wide-ranging political hour connects Iran, Minnesota organizing, and the fight over how U.S. history is remembered.
Living in the USA moves from Trump's reversal on Iran into a broader argument about political power, civic resistance, and the uses of history.
The episode pairs No Kings movement-building with the unexpected rise in abortions after Dobbs.
Living in the USA sets the No Kings protests beside a post-Dobbs puzzle: why abortions have increased even after the Supreme Court allowed more than a dozen states to ban abortion outright.
A political hour on Iran strategy, public attention, and crossword puzzle politics.
Living in the USA begins with the war in Iran and the question of whether Trump expected a fast, hard strike instead of a long war. Tom Stevenson, a contributing editor at the London Review of Books, links that expectation to Trump's stated model of "what we did in Venezuela,"…
A compact review of presidential power, from the Iran war to Trump's threats against election rules.
Living in the USA links two fights over presidential power: the Iran war and Trump's claim that a national security emergency could let him restrict voting in the midterms.
A politically minded episode moves from Los Angeles resistance to Jesus, power, and Dylan at Christmas.
Los Angeles gives the episode its anchor, with a sharp opening on the 2025 confrontation between Donald Trump and the city. The review traces the June deployment of more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines, then notes how nearly all of them were gone by the end of…
A UCLA professor follows the move from restraint to police inaction, mob violence, and hyper militarization.
At UCLA, this episode follows the police response to a violent pro-Israel mob attack on a pro-Palestinian encampment. John Wiener gives David Myers, a distinguished UCLA professor of Jewish history and longtime Israel-Palestine peace activist, space to recount a night he says…
Asia’s headlines, explained with context.
Christian-conservative talk with moral urgency.
Congress, strategy, and the spectacle behind governing.
Famous lives, followed past the headline.
John Wiener discusses the potential government shutdown with Harold Meyerson and upcoming Supreme Court cases with Erwin Chemerinsky.
This episode of Living in the USA features three segments on politics, religion, and music.
This episode of Start Making Sense covers the violent mob attack on a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA and the police response.
Living in the USA links Harold Meyerson's Trump-and-Orban news update, Rebecca Solnit's The Beginning Comes After the End, and Emma Jansen's Minnesota field report.
Living in the USA opens with Harold Meyerson on Trump's Iran strike, the Strait of Hormuz, and the claim that the United States emerged weaker while Iran emerged stronger.
Harold Meyerson says Trump's war on Iran has no clear end game, and he says Trump's claim that the United States is insulated from oil shocks does not match gas prices above four dollars nationally and over six dollars in California.
Discussion of upcoming No Kings protests against Trump and analysis of Trump's anti-Semitism campaign against universities.
John Wiener discusses Trump's war with Iran and progressive politics with Harold Meyerson, Maurice Mitchell, and John Nichols.
Tom Stevenson says the U.S.
David Cole says Trump has "no chance" to use a national-security emergency to restrict midterm voting.
John Wiener discusses Trump's State of the Union speech with Harold Meyerson and previews Howard Bryant's book on Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson.
John Wiener interviews Bill Gallegos about how Los Angeles defeated Donald Trump's military occupation in 2025, followed by segments on Jesus as a revolutionary and Bob Dylan's Christmas album.
John Wiener discusses Trump's National Guard presence in DC, interviews with Harold Meyerson and Zorhan Mamdani, and lessons from Denmark's WWII resistance for protecting undocumented residents.
John Wiener discusses Trump's deportation campaign targeting Los Angeles with Harold Meyerson, then explores Elon Musk's technocratic roots with Jill Lepore, and interviews Rachel Kushner about her novel 'Creation Lake'.